Following a thread of emails from the Attorney at Law Jean Kelsick, he finally wrote to Tony.Bates@fco.gov.uk .
Dear Mr Bates
I acknowledge receipt of your last email and now wish to place the following on record:
- As a British citizen I have a right to communicate directly with any member of the British Government. As the head of the Governor’s Office in Montserrat you should facilitate and not impede this process.
- Your suggestion that I channel my communication to the Director through you, your withholding of his contact details and your statement that is improper for a third party to provide them to me are all regrettable and quite extraordinary.
Our exchange of emails will be shared with the appropriate authorities in the hope that the necessary corrective action will be taken.
Yours sincerely
Jean Kelsick
Mr. Bates, head of the Governor’s office here for several years, and who received suspect mention in an article published last week, “Us court asked to subpoena British Overseas Territories security advisor” (see: https://www.themontserratreporter.com/us-court-asked-to-subpoena-british-overseas-territories-security-advisor-2/ )
From: Tony.Bates@fco.gov.uk [mailto:Tony.Bates@fco.gov.uk]
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2018 6:42 PM
Mr Kelsick.
That person should not have passed them on. It was inappropriate until I had checked that the Director was happy for his details to be passed on.
Regards
Tony Bates
On 19 Jan 2018 Kelsick had written as follows:
Dear Mr Bates
“I have obtained the details from another source.” After Bates had responded to his letter of January 18, which had been followed up with a reminder
Dear Mr. Bates
Kindly let me have the name and email address of the FCO official with direct responsibility for Montserrat/ to whom the Governor of Montserrat is directly answerable. I look forward to your reply.
Below was the reply:
From: Tony.Bates@fco.gov.uk [mailto:Tony.Bates@fco.gov.uk]
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2018 2:48 PM
To: kelkel@candw.ms
Subject: RE: Polite reminder
Dear Mr Kelsick
I have been away from my desk for much of the day and cannot respond to e-mails immediately.
Might I ask that you send your e-mail to me and I will undertake to pass it to the Director for the Overseas Territories in the FCO? I’m afraid he is currently away from the office and I have been unable to contact him to ask him whether he would be happy for me to give you his personal e-mail address. I hope you understand that I cannot simply divulge personal e-mail addresses to everyone who asks and without obtaining the recipient’s permission first.
Regards
Tony
Tony Bates
UK Policy Adviser to the Governor & Head of the Governor’s office
Tel. (00) 1 664 491 2688/5964 (direct)
Mob. (00) 1 664 392 0737
Echo: 8624 5026
END
